7 Easy and Essential Interviewing Tips for Job Seekers

After ten years of recruiting on the agency side, I would like to start with some basic interviewing and resume tips. Often a recruiter might counsel, or recommend these tips to their candidates, but with the pace of things today these basics can get overlooked.

1. Keep your resume up to date

I suggest showing your resume to a few people for feedback to make sure it truly highlights your strengths. Please do not be afraid to toot your horn on your resume. One it shows confidence and two it lets you stand out among the other candidates. Also, in my opinion, chronological resumes are the way to go.

The functional resumes are considered not acceptable to many hiring managers. As I have seen these resumes be declined over and over again. Managers feel someone is trying to hide something by using a functional resume.

2. Bring several copies of your resume to the interview

I still have managers tell me the candidate did not bring a copy of their resume with them. Please think about your audience, and while this may not apply in every situation, I think it is best to be conservative here and bring a few copies. It is also nice to have one for you to look at so when they ask questions and are referring to your resume you can glance down and be prompted by the details in front of you.

3. Arrive 10-15 minutes early

Arriving early will give you a moment to breathe and reflect before an interview as well as not feel rushed. Please do not arrive 30 minutes before an interview. If you do, I would recommend sitting in your car for a few minutes. The last thing you would want to do is stress out your interviewer for arriving too early.

4. Research the company before an interview

It is ideal to learn about the company where you will be interviewing. As a recruiter, I constantly have hiring managers tell about candidates that do not even know what the company they are interviewing at does. Try to do a little homework beforehand and it will pay off big time.

5. Be prepared with a couple of questions to ask

Having a few questions after the interview will help confirm your interest in the position. If you need additional help preparing questions for your interview, see Do You Have Any Questions For Me?

6. Thank the interviewers for their time

Make sure to thank the interviewer and state that you are interested and excited for the job. I frequently hear situations where the manager is unsure whether the candidate even wants the job after an interview.

7. Lastly, treat everyone you meet even the receptionist with respect

It’s always important to treat everybody with respect, but when it comes to interviews, you better bring your A game. You never know what sort of influence any given person could have.

7 Tips For Handling an Out of Town Job Interview

Job Interviews are stressful. There are questions to prepare for and outfits to think about. But what if that interview is another town or state? You will need to consider more than just the questions you will be asked and what you will wear. Here are some tips on how to handle your out-of-town job interview.

Best Questions to Ask During an Inteview

One of the most important questions asked at almost every job interview is, “Do you have any questions for me?”. You should always have questions prepared for when that subject comes up. It’s not just about asking questions; you have to ask the right questions. If you don’t, it can seem like you are either unprepared or uninterested.

Drop These Bad Habits to Increase Productivity at Work

Most of the time, posts about how to increase productivity at work will touch on checking email too much or using Facebook. This may only treat the symptom and not solve the problem of low productivity in the workplace. The ideas below touch on dropping bad habits, so it may appear one is doing less to increase productivity at work!